We will soon be back on the track at Moorways, from Sept 23rd. So, as we all gear up to be ready for the winter track sessions, we thought it would be good to remind you all of a few things.
Track etiquette:
- Run in the correct/appropriate lane – quicker runners on the inside, slower ones in the outer lanes.
- Lane 8 is for those on a social/easy run.
- Pass on the outside of your lane
- Please avoid standing on the track
- When crossing the track – please look both ways.
- If you hear a shout of ‘TRACK’ – it could be aimed at you, please keep an eye for all runners.
- If there are issues, please speak to a member of the coaching or welfare team.
As ever, we the coaching team, aim to support all our members with the track sessions. The sessions are for all members to have a go. They are not for Runner A, Member B, for marathon runners or for 5k runners – they are for all. We do offer some guidance on the sessions and aim to keep it simple, using terms ‘easy’ ‘medium’ or ‘hard’ or running to RPE and occasionally ‘threshold’ or ‘tempo’. As we have said, the coaching team use ‘RPE’ – Relative Perceived Exertion as the way of setting session effort. This is a simple to understand way of running and links very well to a key part of training in listening to the body. It ignores all the measures (pace/speed/HR etc) and it means when we say an easy run – it means easy for all members, regardless of the pace they are running at. Below is a summary:
| RPE Level | Description | Guide Notes |
| 1-2 | Walking | Proactive recovery, walking |
| 3-4 | Easy | Long Run, recovery, chatty pace |
| 5-6 | Medium | Tempo – a pace you can run AND maintain for about an hour, can say a few words |
| 7-8 | Hard | Threshold – 5k, or there abouts, talk with difficulty |
| 9-10 | Very Hard | Flat out, cant talk |
So a simple way to say this:
RPE4/Easy – slower than race pace
RPE6/Medium – or Tempo Effort
RPE8/Hard – Threshold Effort
For the more experienced runners, you can adjust to suit your own training, but all we ask, is to respect the session. If you do have any questions, please do ask a member of the coaching team. Other wise we look forward to seeing you all.
Alan, Dan, Rob & Simon